A Minnesota-based engineering firm with employees stationed across North Texas is preparing to move its headquarters to Plano.

National multidiscipline engineering firm Westwood Professional Services is currently based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, but has several hundred employees working across seven offices in Dallas-Fort Worth.

A handful of the firm’s executives are stationed in the company’s existing Plano office, per a regulatory filing obtained by the Dallas Business Journal. The company’s Chief Operations Officer Bryan Powell told the DBJ its Plano HQ should be open by the end of this year.

The move follows a series of acquisitions made by the firm, including the late June purchase of Fort Worth-based Peloton Land Solutions, which is the planner and engineer of record for AllianceTexas, Hillwood’s 27,000-acre mixed-use development north of Fort Worth.

Once hailed as the mecca for corporate relos, Texas has seen a serious slowdown over the last several months. Out-of-state headquarter announcements rounded out at 35 last year, versus 62 recorded in 2021.

Those involved in site selection say several trends have coalesced to blunt the state’s competitive edge, including rising costs, its position on hot-button political issues, a weakening demand for office space, and a general hesitation among companies to move their headquarters during an economic downturn.

Westwood’s planned relocation is the third out-of-state headquarters move into the Dallas area so far this year, according to YTexas’ corporate relo tracker. California-based companies Landsea Homes and Inbenta are also in the process of setting up shop in the Metroplex.